Gilmore Fills Competitive Summer Void in FGCL
Junior finds success in the circle and in the batter's box
Mike Brohard
Since becoming a college softball player, the one part of the calendar Taylor Gilmore really struggled with was the offseason. Summer in particular.
The task of finding people to throw live pitching too was hit and miss. Schedules are jumbled, and as the weeks pass, motivation will eventually take a big hit. Even in the rare occurrences the opportunities arise, it just isn’t the same. Standing in the circle throwing glorified batting practice doesn’t exactly get the juices flowing.
This year, those feelings were only going to magnify with the outbreak of COVID-19. It wasn’t just a lost summer possibly, but the elimination of the final 27 games of the 2020 Colorado State softball season.
Then her mom found the Florida Gulf Coast League online. It was a debut venture, and it was in Florida, but it was a chance to really move forward.
So for six weeks, all she did was play softball with a collection of collegiate talent from around the country. Seven teams, all housed in a Courtyard by Marriott in Bradenton, Fla. Softball was five days a week, leaving two days to recover.
Perfect.
“I was more interested in this, just being able to play with other girls who were at the same level as I was,” Gilmore said. “It was a neat opportunity to play over the summer, because normally I never get the opportunity to have actual competition.
“I think it was super beneficial. I knew exactly what I wanted to work on going into it, and I was able to talk to my coaches out there and tell them that, and they were willing to work with me on certain things in games. There was no pressure almost, because in the grand scheme of things, it didn’t matter toward a national championship. I could break down stuff and work on things I normally wouldn’t be able to do in a game.”
Gilmore has found it odd collegiate players have limited chances to play in the offseason. So too does CSU head coach Jen Fisher. Ryan Moore, who has run the FGCL baseball league for three seasons thought the same thing, and he had the motivation to fill the gap.
All he had to do was make it work in the middle of a pandemic. Moore admits they were two weeks away from having to shelve the idea, but local officials asked him to move forward with the league as they were phasing into a more open approach.
Health and safety protocols were put in place at the direction of local health officials. There was no intake testing, but plenty of sanitary precautions with ample amounts of hand sanitizer and dugouts cleaned spotless after games. Temperatures were checked daily, and all the teams stayed in one hotel, creating somewhat of a bubble.
In all that time, not one of the players exhibited any symptoms of COVID-19. Moore credits the players for making it important to them by not venturing out into the greater community, especially toward the end when Florida became a hot spot for the spread of the virus.
“We had contingency plans in place, we had safety protocols in place. We really just listened to what the local officials gave us to do from safety guidelines, social-distancing guidelines to testing guidelines and how to quarantine,” Moore said. “I was really encouraged. If you can get this done in a pandemic, you can get anything done. It was a super summer.”
Gilmore raved about the experience and is glad the FGCL has plans to not only move forward with the league, but expand the number of teams. Moore hopes to release further plans Sept. 1, including the addition of live streaming games.
I think the thing that was most valuable was being able to play when I normally wouldn’t. This year, it was really good for me because we didn’t get to finish our season. Being able to play essentially the rest of my season game wise and keep that mentality and not lose anything over the extra-long summer break, that was the most valuable. Being around people who want to be better every single day really pushed me.Taylor Gilmore, Junior Softball Player
The FGCL filled a void in the life of Colorado State’s pitcher, who will be entering her junior season. She went down with a personal checklist of improvements for herself, and the fact she threw almost as many innings in Florida as she did for CSU this spring gave her ample chances to focus.
“I was trying to work on just a stronger mentality on the mound and just being able to bounce back from mistakes. If I give up a hit, be able to turn around and say, ‘OK, that’s the only one you get this inning,’ things like that,” Gilmore said. “It definitely pushed me to be better, because there were only seven teams and we played each team three or four times. Each game I had to bring something new to the table, which is kind of what I’m going to have to do to pitch against the Mountain West competition every single year. They’ll see me over and over, so you have to bring something new every year.”
Playing for the Pioneers, a roster of 16 players representing 13 NCAA programs, she ranked fifth in the league in strikeouts with 68 in 50.1 innings pitched. She posted an ERA of 2.23 in seven starts, ranking third, as she went 5-3 for her team. For the Rams, she went 4-4 in the early part of the spring with a 2.72 ERA and 43 punch outs in 54 innings of work, throwing six complete games.
Gilmore is expected to be a major factor for the Rams in the upcoming season, with Fisher seeing her as one of the top two pitchers she has, with the possibility of proving she can be their outright ace. If anything, the confidence alone gained by Gilmore will pay off when the college season rolls back around, whenever that may be with the current climate of the pandemic placing every athlete in a holding pattern.
“I think she was really on an upward trajectory,” Fisher said. “I was just so proud of her for really taking the situation and turning it into a real positive. That was just the momentum she needed going into next year. That’s crucial, and I think she’ll come back with a lot of momentum, a lot of confidence and I think it was one of the best things she could have done for herself and really, for our team.”
Better yet, the Rams may be gaining an even more complete player, as Gilmore had a secondary goal in mind in heading to Florida. It was an extension of her in-the-shadows portion of the CSU season, when she was working with assistant coach Whitney Cloer on her hitting.
Gilmore found a rejuvenated love for the game at Colorado State after spending one season at Arizona, yet she sensed there was still a piece missing for her. It was digging into the batter’s box, so she and Cloer worked on the side to get her ready for a possible chance as a Ram. Those lessons were just carried forward in Florida, where she was allowed to hit for herself.
Not only did she hit, she was placed in the cleanup spot for her team. She posted a .293 batting average with four home runs, which was just as enlightening for her as the gains she made in the circle.
“This summer I had so much fun. I love hitting, I love being able to be in the box and hit for myself,” Gilmore said. “I was just having fun. There was no pressure, and I was able to work on the mentality of CSU hitting, and I was in contact with Coach Cloer on things to work on and I was sending her videos.”
Fisher said Cloer had positive reviews from the video clips, and the outlook is promising. With just one re-entry per game, the bonus of having a pitcher be able to hit allows from some versatility, especially if it can come with an added punch. They already know Gilmore is athletic enough to run the bases, and while Fisher said she may not be the fastest Ram, they know she has good base-running instincts, as they’ve put her in those workouts, partly to aid a pitcher’s conditioning.
When she first transferred, the goal was to aid Gilmore’s transition by just having her focus on pitching, very much like the pattern the program took with Ashley Ruiz, just in the opposite way. Now that Gilmore is comfortable with her role with the Rams – and with some confidence from competitive at-bats – the goal is to continue to move forward with the thought she can become a two-way player.
“I do believe now that she’s really gaining her confidence, and she’s got her time-management under control, it’s a great time,” Fisher said. “She had talked with Coach Cloer about it and said give me a bunch of stuff to work on, and she worked on it. I also think was even more impressive than mechanically what (Cloer) saw, it was the work ethic and the enthusiasm and the communication part of it. She wants to hit, and when you have a kid saying those things to you, that in and of itself tells you she’s ready.
“Hitting is hard, so you have to be mentally ready.”
The consistent competition alone made it a valuable trip for Gilmore, but the icing on the cake is her numbers landed her on the league all-star team. That group played a few games against each other, then a select few were chosen to play against the USSSA Pride, a professional team. Gilmore was one, and it put her on the same field with a few players she idolized growing up.
Stepping into the circle, she matched up against former NCAA first-team All-Americans Sydney Romero (Oklahoma) and Amanda Lorenz (Florida). She was a bit star-struck, but she held her own. A true fan-girl moment, pictures were taken later.
“Not even pitching against them, but being on the same field with that caliber of softball player was just amazing,” Gilmore said. “I got Sydney to pop up to center field, and then Amanda Lorenz hit a changeup for a single up the middle. It wasn’t any crazy hits, and it gave me a lot of confidence. It was definitely really cool.”
Naturally, she’d jump at the chance to do it all again, and her experience has other players intrigued, proving to Moore there is more than enough interest for summer collegiate softball leagues to sprout around the country, much in the same vein as they have for college baseball.
It’s not only Colorado State teammates who have picked her brain, but friends she grew up with playing club ball in the summer. To her, the ability to be able to play at a competitive level just can’t be replicated in a cage or throwing to somebody on an empty field with nothing at stake.
“I think the thing that was most valuable was being able to play when I normally wouldn’t,” she said. “This year, it was really good for me because we didn’t get to finish our season. Being able to play essentially the rest of my season game wise and keep that mentality and not lose anything over the extra-long summer break, that was the most valuable. Being around people who want to be better every single day really pushed me.”